The present disclosure relates to a dielectric composition to be sintered at low temperature, a multilayer ceramic electronic component containing the same and a method of manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component.
In accordance with the recent trend toward miniaturization and high performance of an electronic product using a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC), the multilayer ceramic capacitor used therein has gradually miniaturized and had high capacitance.
That is, as microminiaturization and super capacitance of the multilayer ceramic capacitor have been required, ceramic layers for generating a capacitance have become thinned and highly stacked, and accordingly, the multilayer ceramic capacitor is required to stably generate capacitance and have a low dissipation factor and high reliability.
Particularly, in order to secure super high capacitance in a small multilayer ceramic capacitor, dielectric layers should be ultra-thin.
In order to achieve high reliability while having high capacitance and the low dissipation factor in the ultra-thin layers, a dielectric composition having excellent dielectric properties is important, but connectivity of internal electrodes alternately stacked with at least one of the dielectric layers interposed therebetween is also important.
In the case of manufacturing a multilayer ceramic capacitor using a dielectric material containing BaTiO3, when a sintering temperature exceeds 1200° C., nickel internal electrodes may be shrunk and agglomerated. In this case, stress may be generated in the multilayer ceramic capacitor due to a difference in shrinkage behavior between the internal electrodes and the dielectric layers.
In addition, as the nickel internal electrodes are shrunk and agglomerated, a possibility of occurrence of a short-circuit is rapidly increased, and connectivity or coverage of the electrodes is decreased due to oxidation of the internal electrodes, resulting in a decrease in capacitance.
Further, it is highly likely to deteriorate reliability due to a decrease in insulation resistance at a high temperature (>1200° C.)
Therefore, a dielectric composition capable of being sintered at a low temperature of 1200° C. or lower has been required.